Currently Untitled
by MystofMoons
Summary: An alternate 6th year story. The daughter of the new Minister of Magic starts as a 6th year at Hogwarts. Harry & Hermione befriend a quiet Slytherin. Both girls have secrets. When Harry falls for the Slytherin, how far will Ginny go to win him over?
1. Chapter 1

Alexiana Sioux stood in front of the full-length mirror, straightening the barrettes holding back her golden hair. It fell across her shoulders in perfect spiraling curls, which she loved - but hair in her face drove her crazy, so the front always had to be secured. Satisfied with her hair, she turned and appraising eye to the clothing she had selected for the first day of school. She had moved over the summer, and wanted to make the best first impression possible on her new classmates.

Not that she was too worried about her popularity. Her attractive face, curvy body, and mature sense of style were generally enough to make her the center of attention as soon as she entered any room. She had an added advantage in this situation - they had just moved from California to London so that her mother could accept a position as the new Minister of Magic. She imagined she'd probably attract a load of "friends" on her first day on the power of her name alone.

She pulled her school robes on over the trendy - but understated - outfit she'd spent so much time putting together. It was really a shame about the robes at this school - her wizarding school in California had allowed students to wear any robes they wanted. This uniform black robe did nothing to add to her outfit, only to cover it up. In Cali she likely would have chosen something turquoise to match her belt, or possibly a nice shiny transluscent material so that the clothing underneath could stay just visible. But no, at Hogwarts all of the students wore black. Opaque black, at that.

An hour later, she was climbing out of the Ministry limousine at King's Cross Station with her mother. This, at least, was familiar - her school in America was located far from prying muggle eyes as well, and they had also ridden a train to get to it. However, the wizard train station had also been hidden from muggles; using a hidden platform at a muggle station was a new experience.  
She felt all eyes on them as her mother walked her to the train. Most people wanted to get a look at the new Minister, and then noticed that she was sending a daughter to Hogwarts and had to get a good look at Alexiana too. Mrs Sioux stopped to talk to a few other Ministry wizards whose children were also headed to Hogwarts.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville had managed to find a compartment all to themselves. Just as they settled in, though, a knock came at the door. A pretty girl with wonderfully curly blonde hair poked her head in.

"Hey, anyone sitting there?" she asked, pointing to the empty spot between Neville and Harry.

"No, go ahead," said Harry, "Are you... new? What year are you?"

She answered as she worked to get her luggage onto the rack. "Yeah, I just moved to England over the summer. How did you know?"

The others looked at each other incredulously while she pushed her last bag into place. "Er, the American accent does make you stick out a bit. No offense," Ginny finally said.

Alexiana sat down in the empty seat and laughed. "Accent? Come on, I'm the only person here who doesn't have an accent! I'm Alexiana Sioux, and I'll be a junior." She watched them carefully when she said her name, and was disappointed to see only recognition on their faces rather than awe. The possible exception was Neville, but it was difficult to tell as he had to dive under the seat a split second later to retrieve his runaway toad.

"Heh, good one," Harry said, hoping that she was joking about the accent. "Junior... That means sixth year, right? So you're in the same year as all of us except Ginny there. She's fifth year. I'm Harry, by the way."

The rest of the group introduced themselves, and after a short but awkward silence Hermione finally asked, "So how is your mother liking her new job? I'm sure things must be run quite differently in America, is she adjusting well?"

Alexiana gave Hermione an appraising look. "She doesn't need to adjust," she finally said in an annoyed tone, "You don't get a job like that by taking your time adjusting to things. She's made some major changes already."

"Oh yeah, Dad was talking about that," Ron chimed in, "He's the head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, Arthur Weasley? He said your mom is disgusted with Fudge's reaction to Voldemort, and she's already sacked three of the people who were responsible for trying to keep Dumbledore quiet."

"That's right, I read in the Prophet that Umbridge was gone!" Neville exclaimed A rousing discussion of the housecleaning being done at the Ministry ensued. Alexiana seemed quite pleased to keep the conversation on her mother's position, especially since the others were expressing their approval of the changes.

When they got off the train, an older witch with a tight bun approached Alexiana.

"I am Professor MacGonagal," the witch said, taking her arm, "Since you're a new transfer, you'll need to be sorted into one of the four Houses. I won't make you walk in with the first years, though; follow me."

They went to the head of the Great Hall, where Professor MacGonagal told Alexiana to sit in a chair to one side until her name was called. She then led in the first years. Once they had all been sorted, she explained Alexiana's situation to the students and led her to the Sorting Hat's stool.

Alexiana wrinkled her nose as she picked up the hat. She was glad she'd only have to wear it for a few seconds; she couldn't believe she was even touching such an out-of-date, dirty, old piece of clothing, let alone wearing it.

"Hmmmmmm... Well, I certainly don't think you quite have the right qualities for Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, I can say that much. Slytherin, maybe... But I daresay that the usual Slytherin's ambitions reach beyond the simple short-term goals I see in your head... Well, I suppose for lack of a better match we'll have to go with - HUFFLEPUFF!"

Alexiana wrinkled her nose again as she ripped the ugly hat off of her head. She had the feeling that she'd just been insulted - by an ugly, nasty, HAT of all things - but she wasn't entirely sure. Her mother had warned her away from Slytherin, so she thought that the hat's passing it up would be a good thing... but the hat hadn't quite made it sound so good. As she strode to the Hufflepuff table, she beamed at her new Housemates. One thing she knew for sure - if she was going to be living with these people for the next two years, she wanted them to adore her from the first day.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry and Ron met Hermione in the Gryffindor common room to head down to their first breakfast of the new school year. "So what do you guys think of that new girl?" Ron asked.

"She seems nice enough," Harry replied, "Maybe a little ditzy, but her mom is doing well so far as Minister, so she can't be all bad, right? If we keep having DA lessons we should make sure she knows about them, I'm sure she'd want to do what she can to fight Voldemort, given her mom's position." "I don't know," Hermione said slowly, "something just doesn't sit right with me about her. She does seem nice, but how did an intelligent and strong woman like her mother produce a daughter quite so... Well, I guess ditzy is as good a word as any."

"Maybe she's adopted," offered Ron, "or maybe her dad wasn't so bright. You know, strong, smart, ambitious woman takes a pretty, birdbrained trophy husband. Hey, that sounds like a good career path for me!" He grinned and cast the briefest of glances toward Hermione, but she was lost in thought about Alexiana.

"And did you see her at the sorting? She seemed so grossed out by the sorting hat, and really annoyed to be put in Hufflepuff."

"Well, I'd be annoyed to be put in Hufflepuff, too," Ron interjected.

"Ron, that's a terrible thing to say! Ernie and Hannah are great people," she scolded, "Anyhow, that's not the point. When she took off that hat, she looked positively sour for just a few seconds. I think the hat said something she didn't like. Maybe the hat doesn't like her. And if the sorting hat doesn't like somebody..."

Harry rolled his eyes, "Oh come on, Hermione, the sorting hat is kind of grungy, and you can tell she's the kind of girl who's never even touched anything like that. Isn't it a little early in the year to start suspecting everyone? Especially when we already know who the Death Eaters are, and Alexiana's mum isn't one of them? Let's just focus on getting dirt on Malfoy's dad and the others."

"You're right, of course," she said as they sat down at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, "We just met her. I'm sure she's a perfectly nice girl, even if she's not the brightest bulb. Speaking of her possibly-dim father, have you all heard anything about him? I've never even heard mention of his name."

Ron frowned, "You know, you're right. I've seen Minister Sioux in public once or twice, and she's always alone or just with Alexiana. Maybe the poor bloke died. Or maybe he's not a trophy after all, and he's just so ugly she doesn't want to be seen with him."

"Maybe they're divorced," Harry offered.

"Divorced?" Ron raised an eyebrow, "What does that mean?"

Harry and Hermione exchanged startled looks. "When you end your marriage legally," Hermione explained, "Why, do wizards call it something different?"

"You mean, muggles can stop being married?" Ron asked incredulously, "Just like that? Wow. No, a wizard wedding magically binds the two people together. It's a lifelong pact. I think that there's some powerful dark magic that can undo it, but you'd have to be pretty desperate. Luckily, the spells used at a wedding also give the couple some help... Like a special ability to hear what the other person means to say even when they don't quite say it. So most people stay pretty happy in their marriages anyhow."

"Wow," Hermione said, "I can't believe I didn't know that. What if you were tricked into the marriage? Or you realize the person you married isn't who you thought they were, if they become abusive or something?"

"Oh, if either person is under the influence of a spell or love potion or anything, the wedding pact is unsealed when it wears off," Ron explained through a mouthful of eggs, "After that, they can freely choose whether to stay in the marriage or not, but the person who tricked them is still bound until the tricked person decides to end it. We don't call it divorce, though... The marriage just doesn't exist anymore, it's like it never did."

"Ah, the muggles call that annulment," Harry chimed in, "but it's pretty rare."

"I doubt there's much you can do if you just decide you married a bad person, like a dark wizard or something," Ron shrugged, "But that's why wizards don't just go around marrying whoever they have a crush on. It's a major decision. Everyone knows what kind of commitment it is, so people don't enter into it unless they're pretty darn sure. There are spells you can use to help you decide, anyhow. A lot of people go in for things like official Dark Detections and stuff before they tie the knot. I guess some people might get offended if their girlfriend or boyfriend wanted that, but generally you'd just be stupid to skip it. Even if you trust someone, there are spells and things that can help you tell if you're as compatible as you think."

"That's amazing," said Hermione, "I wish muggles had things like that. My aunt could have used some Dark Detection before she married that last husband of hers, that's for sure. But anyhow - so that means the Minister probably isn't divorced. Maybe her husband just likes to stay out of the spotlight."

"Maybe," Harry said as Professor MacGonagal came toward them with their schedules. He grabbed his and looked it over. "Same old, same old. Hey, any idea who's teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts now that Umbridge was sacked from the Ministry."

"I don't know for sure," whispered Hermione, with a glance at the empty chair at the staff table, "but I heard Parvati telling Lavendar that the new Minister talked Dumbledore into hiring someone she knows from America."

"That's not too surprising," Harry muttered, "As much trouble as he has getting anyone around here to take the job. It's amazing he didn't look for an international candidate any sooner."

"Well, there's a very good reason for that, as you'd know if you'd read Hogwarts, A History," Hermione sniffed, "Any faculty member who was born outside the United Kingdom has to go through a load of extra background checks, honesty spells, all kinds of things. It takes months just to get it approved."

"Approved by who?" Ron asked, "Surely Dumbldore can just approve who he wants."

"Approved by the _castle_," Hermione explained patiently, "Otherwise they don't have clearance to access a lot of parts of the castle that faculty need to have access to, like the dormitories or their own quarters. I'm betting they had to go through all that to get Karkaroff and Maxime approved when they came here, or else they were pretty restricted as to where they could go in the castle. There are whole wings that only faculty are allowed in."

"Huh," Harry said, "I never noticed those on the Marauder's Map."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Well it's not like your dad or Sirius or the rest have ever been in those wings, have they? Well, I guess Remus has now, but not when they made the map. Even if they knew the wings existed, they wouldn't have been able to map them."

"Good point. Anyhow, Dumbledore must be desperate then, to get an international teacher. But I guess if they're recommended by the new Minister, they probably didn't have much problem passing the approval process. At least, assuming she's a step up from Fudge," Harry shook his head.

"I wonder where the new teacher is," Ron asked, "Maybe she hasn't fully passed the approval yet. I wonder if she'll show up in time for our first class on Wednesday."

"I guess we'll find out then," Hermione said, standing up, "But for now, we've got to run to get to potions in time! Come on, you two!"


End file.
